EDWARDS, Howard Joseph

Howard Edwards was the second son of Matthew and Edith Edwards of Amblecote Villa, Amblecote. His father was the Managing Director of Messrs J Hill and Co., firebrick manufacturers of Stourbridge. Howard Edwards was a chorister at Holy Trinity church and was educated at Stourbridge Grammar School. He had then been employed in the Board of Trade offices in Whitehall. He enlisted in May 1916 in the 2/15 The London Regiment (Civil Service Rifles). He was wounded on the Somme and after recovery in England was sent for officer training and commissioned into the Worcesters in 1917. He joined the 1/7th Battalion after they had suffered serious casualties on the Steenbeek line near the shattered village of St Julien. They attacked again on the 27th August in pouring rain and gained little ground. The Worcesters came into the front line again for the Battle of Poelcapelle in October. At dawn on the 9th, again in atrocious weather, they crossed the Brombeek, scarcely able to keep up with the creeping barrage. Another fortified farm was gained but the Worcesters had lost more casualties. Among those killed in action was Second Lieutenant Howard Edwards. He was 20 years of age and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot, Amblecote, Amblecote church and King Edward VI College Memorials.